Ice hockey players are routinely involved in violent collisions, whether deliberately applied to one another as body checks or as unintended collisions with other players, the boards, or the net. Players often purposely block shots or are inadvertently hit with the puck flying at high speeds. It is during these collisions with players and other objects that hockey players are most vulnerable to injury, especially given that every player skates around the ice on skate blades that can be razor sharp. Getting slashed by another player's skate blade or stick, or hit by a flying puck, especially around the neck area, has proven to be serious and can potentially be deadly. In the past, there have been attempts to provide articles of protective clothing to protect hockey players from the danger of being slashed or hit by a puck around the neck area.
For example, there is a neck protector that is generally formed like a “dickey” and has a tubular section for surrounding the player's neck and a shoulder portion depending from a lower end of the tubular section. The neck protector is formed of a multi-layer stretchable and flexible fabric, wherein one or more inner cut and slash resistant fabric layers are sandwiched between two outer layers made of a wicking fabric. The slash and cut-resistant layers are knitted with a combination of both slash-resistant fibers—such as Kevlar® brand aramid fibers, high density polyethylene fibers, and PBO fibers—and stretchable fibers—such as Lycra® brand spandex fibers. The blend of stretchable and non-stretchable fibers allows the neck protector to fit many different sized wearers. In addition, the neck protector may optionally have an adjustment mechanism, such as a Velcro® brand closure, in order to permit rapid dressing and undressing and adjustment by the wearer. Unfortunately, the neck protector provides little protection against the sort of blunt trauma to a player's neck caused, for example, by a hockey stick, a flying puck, or another player's knee.
Another neck protector has a collar and a bib that depends from a lower portion of the collar. The collar is formed of a sleeve of fabric encasing a removable armored insert that has an armor member coextensive with and attached to a fabric backing. The armor member is formed from a seamless knitted fabric material sold under the trademark WHIZARD®. The fabric backing is formed from a foam padding laminated on either side of a layer of textile material. The sleeve is wrapped around a wearer's neck and held in place by a Velcro® brand hook and loop fastener. The bib is formed of a 2-ply textile material having a quilted liner therebetween. The seamless knitted fabric material that makes up the armor member can soak up moisture from perspiration and feel heavy around a player's neck. In addition, the moisture can cause the armor member to degrade over time and may be difficult to clean.
A further neck protector includes a neck band assembly that is held within a cover that has a bib downwardly extending therefrom. The cover and the bib are formed from 1000 denier KEVLAR-29® fabric. The cover surrounds the neck band assembly that is formed from shock absorbing unicellular foam material that slowly compresses to absorb applied forces and subsequently recovers to an uncompressed state. A protective outer cover formed alternatively from a jersey type material or KEVLAR-29® fabric encompasses the cover and the bib. The cover includes a Velcro® brand hook and loop fastener that extends from the cover via a tape to hold the cover in place around a wearer's neck. However, when fastened the hook and loop fastener can leave the back of a wearer's neck partially exposed, thereby exposing the wearer's spine to slashing damage and blunt force trauma.